Hazleton Area High School

It has been so exciting having the honor to single-handedly develop our district's first honors-level, intensive, by-audition visual arts program! My program is a completely separate entity from the regular high school Art Department. (The Academy overall is a school-within-a-school...until we move into our new building!) I am very directly involved in all auditions, correspondence, and parent/student promotional days and evenings throughout the year with our entire Academy Visual Art Studio Program that is now entering its 7th year.

My approach to the concept of an intensive Art Studio is that of developing individuality in conjunction with skill. My student displays (the display case across from the cafeteria, and the display case between the auditorium doors in the lobby) do not look cookie-cutter...as if cloned from Pinterest. The children are given very broad guidelines, and then must take responsibility to be innovative to apply the elements and principles of design, media choices, and their own style to create a work that is visually successful and unique, while I facilitate. Our ever-changing modern world is requiring workers to be more innovative in a variety of careers, and I seek to foster that in my program. The students are with me every day for 90 minutes all year (similar to AP courses), so we are able to be intensive and prolific, and I am able to truly get to know each student. I try to grade each student not in competition with each other, but in terms of demonstration of skill and progress within their own combination of stengths and weaknesses. The art teachers throughout the district have a varied approach to their programs, so the children come to me with a varied knowledge base...so I try to help them progress from there.

I believe community outreach is integral to helping the students be more aware of the world outside of high school. We have not only created art work for other groups within the school, but take part in community outreach. A complete list with photos are on the "Community Connections" page, and include connections such as window painting in downtown businesses, sponsor signs for Freeland Little League, Art Walk displays for First Friday, Veterans' Day Celebration, junior student teaching at an elementary, and helping to design and create the next several large murals in downtown Hazleton. Many other activities are being planned!

I feel that the students also need to be offered dual-enrollment opportunities, and eventually AP credits. So far, we have a partnership with LCCC where a previous senior studio was able to take 3 FREE college credits in art the summer of 2017! No one earned lower than an A-! Covid, unfortunately delayed progress in this area, but plans are being made now for dual-enrollment that would occur within the school while they are in my studio! (Please see more on the separate page "LCCC Dual-Enrollmenet College Art Credits" to see our past off-site example. The mural from that effort is about to go up on the new Hayden Family Arts Center that houses the Hazleton Art League on Broad St.!) Hopefully this year I will be given the go-ahead by our administration to develop an Dual-Enrollment Studio art class, where through an affiliation with a college, I will be able to help the students potentially earn college credits for their portfolio. I have also chartered a chapter of the National Art Honor Society so that my students are able to have an even more impressive resume as they head into any endeavor after graduation! (So far I have inducted 45 members, who have received graduation cords and certificates.)

Whenever possible, I integrate art with their other subjects. For instance, when the sophomores learn about Ancient Greece, I teach about Greek architecture and art, and then have the students design a piece that must incorporate mythology, and either an element of architecture or Greek Key design. The sophomores also create a work in the style of Ancient Chinese art, on unryu rice paper, and includes at least one Hanzi character. Sophomores create a work in the style of ancient Egypt. All visual art students participate in our cross-curricular field trip to the PA Renaissance Faire. All written work submitted must be in MLA format, to reinforce what their other teachers require. (Seniors eventually will move toward APA as well.) Final exam projects often require writing in conjunction with an art piece because it is so important to be able to verbally articulate aesthetics and creative reflection. Also, in my Honors/non-Honors Art History class, they not only integrate writing, but see how the artistic creations of humanity visually document and record the many facets of human history and culture...integrating those subjects.

Juniors are able to take Honors/Non-Honors Art history now that their PE credits have been earned. Since this is just a once-a-week class, we are only able to do a very light survey of art history, beginning with the ancient world. I feel that the more students are aware of the styles and approaches of other artists, the more they can in turn be introspective and develop their own unique place within the art world.

Our students are also able to compete in several different art competitions. A complete list with photos is on the "Art Competitions/Shows" page. Every year our students earn several awards! Create-An-Ad, Peace Love Chalk, Art Youth Expo, Congressional Art Competition, PA Renaissance Faire Advertisement Competition, Art at the Markle, and Vans National Shoe Design are among the contests we take part in and have won awards...and more are planned this year!

I am also founder and advisor of our district's first Mural Club! This club is by invitation only, and is only available to my Visual Art studio Students. So far we have created a large mural down an entire hallway near the gym/pool, a classroom mural with a Hazleton theme for a history room, and subject-themed ceiling tiles for several classrooms. We have SO many more exciting works planned! 

Each year we have our exciting Junior Showcase. Don't let the name fool you, this is a massive collaborative effort of the entire academy! The theme is new each year and always merges the performing arts with classic literature. It's always a wonderful night! The juniors have their framed art on easels in the lobby and the display case filled for all to see. Senior year we curate our own community art show as well as have a senior recital. Not only will the visual art studio students have their art on display at the recital at the high school, but also have their own exclusive month-long community show in the lovely Hazleton Art League Gallery. We have opening night during First Friday celebrations when the community can stroll in and out and enjoy the show.

This year we will have our fourth graduating class from the academy! Of course the academy's approach has had to be modified due to Covid over the last year and a half, but we are hoping for a more traditional year this year. But as usual, I will help my students as much as possible regardless. I write letters of recommendation (regardless of their chosen area of study for college). I also have 6-8 college representatives visit my class exclusively here at the high school (this year possibly virtually again) to review portfolios and make presentations about what that school has to offer and even career opportunities within the art world. We had several students show portfolio work that the reps immediately said was perfect for admission! For each year so far, we've had all who applied to art school accepted (some by multiple schools!), and the scholarships roll in every year...some receive full tuition!  I currently have students attending Art programs at PSU Main campus, Tyler School of Arts & Architecture (within Temple U.), Moore College of Art & Design, Kutztown U., Arcadia U, Edinboro, School of the Arts in Chicago, and the 4 year art program at Luzerne Co. Communty College. Many do not realize the very active role the arts take in our every day lives, and that there are many career opportinities out there where driven, focused artists can enjoy a very successful career!